First Cold Wave to Bring Rain and Snow for Halloween Weekend

A seasonal shift in weather is set to arrive across the country for the Halloween and All Saints' Day weekend, bringing strong winds, sharply lower temperatures, and heavy rainfall that could turn into snow at lower elevations.

According to meteorological forecasters, a low-pressure vortex is organizing over the Ionian Sea, driving the first major influx of cold air from northeastern Europe into the peninsula. The shift will trigger widespread weather disruptions, including thunderstorms and plunging temperatures.

On Saturday, northern regions will see mostly sunny skies early on, though clouds will increase from the east by the end of the day, bringing light showers overnight. Central areas will experience variable cloudiness along the Adriatic coast and Apennines with intermittent rain, while the Tyrrhenian side remains sunnier. In the south, unstable conditions will affect the Adriatic, Ionian, eastern Sicily, and eastern Sardinia, bringing potential showers and thunderstorms alongside dropping temperatures and strong northerly winds.

Conditions are expected to deteriorate further on Sunday as the Mediterranean depression deepens. Forecasters predict organized rain and thunderstorms across Romagna, the Marche, Abruzzo, Molise, Puglia, Campania, Calabria, eastern Sardinia, and Sicily, with rainfall potentially reaching local accumulations of up to 60 millimeters in a few hours along the Adriatic strip.

The sharp temperature drop, ranging between 3 and 4 degrees Celsius, will create ideal conditions for snowfall along the central Apennines. Snow is expected to fall between 1,000 and 1,200 meters, and locally below 1,000 meters in the interior sectors of the Marche, Abruzzo, Molise, and Lazio between Sunday evening and Monday morning.

In northern areas, lingering rain is expected to clear by Sunday morning in the southern Piedmont region, while snow could touch the central-eastern Alps above 1,000 meters and parts of Romagna near the Apennines.

Meteorological experts note that this atmospheric circulation will maintain residual instability across the central and southern regions, keeping a chilly climate in place through Tuesday. Temperatures are not expected to return closer to seasonal averages until Wednesday as the system gradually stabilizes.